On behalf of the City of York Council we would
like to thank the Select Committee on Education Employment for
sending us Fourth Special Report on the Early Years. We welcome
the opportunity to respond to this report.

1. The City of York feels the report reflects
good practice in quality childcare and the City of York Council
is already in the process of implementing most of the recommendations
highlighted in the report. We are able to implement these recommendations
because of our new admission policy of not admitting children
into full time education in school until the term after their
fifth birthday, which we are implementing from September 2001.

2. We feel that Quality Development should
be coherent, that each Quality Assurance scheme and inspection
should relate to one another and not be fragmented.

3. In reference to point 37, which refers
to heads of centres, playgroups, nurseries requiring graduate
level or equivalent, we have concerns for small playgroups in
meeting the cost of these qualifications, particularly where staff
turnover is high.

4. We would be interested in knowing how
much this report will contribute to influencing future government
policy.